You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.- John 5:39-40
One of the tasks I’ve set for this year is to think more deeply about how we interpret Scripture. And, by extension, how I ought to interpret Scripture in my sermons. It’s not self-evident how Scripture is meant to be read. Take the Song of Songs, a book of the Bible that doesn’t come up much in sermons. The Song reads like an erotic poem and God is scarcely mentioned. How is that the word of God? In the book of Esther God’s name never comes up. God hardly seems present in the book of Ruth, only invoked two times. If these books are the word of God, for us the people of God, how are we supposed to read them without mutilating their meaning? In other words, was Ruth meant to be read as a story about God’s providence or a story about Ruth’s tenacity? And do we do justice to that wonderful story if we read it as a story about God?
At the risk of digging myself a greater hole, Paul’s own reading of scripture seems quite strange to modern ears. Paul doesn’t care about the historical context of scripture, or what the author may have originally intended. In his letter to the Galatians he argues that because the scripture says God made the promise to Abraham and his “offspring” it must mean the promise is fulfilled in Christ. As Jesus is the singular offspring of Abraham. In another place in the same letter he reads the story of Hagar and Sarah as an allegory about two covenants. Interestingly enough he does not say he’s reading that story as an allegory, he says the story is an allegory. For Paul, it seems, Jesus unlocks the true meaning of Scripture.
In 2 Corinthians he writes, "We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor. 3:13-18)
All of Scripture refers to Jesus. Whether it foretells Jesus’ coming, explains Jesus’ character, rejoices in Jesus’ work, or tells us what Jesus is going to do, Jesus is the key that unlocks the word of God. That is why Jesus says in John that the scriptures “testify about me.” Jesus and his cross and resurrection were the secret hidden from the foundation of the world, and by that revelation what had come before becomes clear. The prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, are seen to have been about Jesus. David is seen to have been a foreshadowing of what was to come. Jesus brings unity to the Scripture, and makes sense of it for us.
Insofar as Scripture is Scripture, it all points to Jesus.